Uncharted 4 Survival Arena - New Co-Op Multiplayer Mode Officially Coming! - AcornVision News Drop

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - Co-Operative Multiplayer Wish List w/ Sir_Alan_

A Guide On How To Complete Solo Matches On ME3 MP (Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum) - Part 2 of 2

Welcome to the second part of my guide on how to complete solo matches on Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, if you missed the first part you can catch up by going here. To recap what I covered in part one and what I'll be covering today, please check out the contents list below:

Contents

---------------------------------- [ In Part 1 ] ----------------------------------
1) Enemy Faction
2) Map Choice
3) Class & Character Kit
4) Weapon Selection
5) Gear & Equipment
---------------------------------- [ In Part 2 ] ---------------------------------- 
6) Game Tactics
- 6A) Survival Waves

A Guide On How To Complete Solo Matches On ME3 MP (Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum) - Part 1 of 2

Welcome to my second guide for Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, while I'm still not quite fully rested from writing my very lengthy A Beginners Guide To Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer earlier this year XD, I've decided to create this article to help those that are contemplating doing solo runs. Despite being called a "Beginners Guide", there's lots of information in that other article, which I acquired many months after I started playing, so seasoned veteran or not, I think it'll be worth checking out before continuing with this guide. I personally don't find solo matches all that fun to be honest and the only reason I made an effort to complete them, was so that I could check off the 'Solo Mastery' section in the MP Challenges list. I don't think the default version of the banner is the greatest looking one available (though the Fem-Shep alternative is pretty decent) but some people do view it as the ultimate achievement in MP, unless of course you achieved the 'Best of the Best' banner as a result of completing it. Like all the MP Challenges, the 'Lone Wolf' banner is something that can eventually be achieved if you spend enough time playing the game, how much time you need to spend playing, will of course depend on your level of ability. If you're reading this article, the chances are you're here because you need Solo Mastery in order to obtain the BotB banner or like me, you just wanted to complete the ultimate test of your Mass Effect 3 multiplayer skills. Well, whatever the reason you're here, I hope this article provides you with the advice and guidance that you're searching for :)

Awakened Collector - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Awakened Collector

I can't believe it's been nearly half a year since I wrote my first Mass Effect 3 multiplayer character review and now here I am, about to start my last one! It's a bitter sweet moment, on the one hand I'm now free to leave the world of ME3 MP and start going through my backlog of unplayed games but on the other hand, I am going to miss putting new characters through their paces. There's at least two more ME3 MP articles in the pipeline but those won't be character reviews (obviously) and will probably be my last for the Mass Effect franchise (until ME4), that is unless something major happens in the future for ME3. Anyway, this week I'll be discussing the final Reckoning DLC kit, the Awakened Collector; classified as an Adept and he brings to the fight two new powers in the form of Dark Sphere and Seeker Swarms, with the standard Dark Channel being the third. You know it's sort of funny how things work out, when I first started playing Mass Effect 3 I wasn't big on using powers to rack up kills, preferring instead to just shoot everything with my gun/s. Weeks and months later, I finally got a taste for destroying enemies with crazy exploding power combos and it was good *nods*. These days I can happily go through a match barely shooting my weapon but still doing some serious damage to the enemy in the process. Adepts as a class have been a true surprise to me, I'm not usually into all this science fiction lark but there's just something incredibly satisfying about using Biotics to obliterate enemy spawns :D The question is, does the Awakened Collector increase my options when I'm selecting kits for Biotic Explosions or is he a disappointing dud?

Unlike last weeks character review of the Geth Juggernaut and the Talon Mercenary before him, who both took a bit of time to figure out, I think the Awakened Collector is a much more straightforward kit to play. I'll go into much more detail later on of course but as always, we start by covering the powers. First up is Dark Channel, it's exactly the same on this kit as it is for the others that have access to it, namely the N7 Fury and Asari Huntress Infiltrator (AHI). Just in case you don't know what it does I'll give you a quick run down, basically when you use the power, it will hit an enemy unit with a lingering Biotic field. This field can not be dodged by enemies because it's an instant affect power, it will do steady damage over a set amount of time and best of all, if it kills the afflicted unit, it has the ability to "jump" to a nearby target. By default it's not that lethal (on Gold+) but if you choose to spec it for full damage, it can kill basic troops within a few seconds and it's also great for weakening bosses. If I'm busy clearing up crowds of low level troops I'll usually hit a boss with DC, so that when I'm done dealing with said troops, I can then take on the boss and already have the first layer of defence dealt with i.e. Phantoms and Banshees will have most (if not all) of their Barrier destroyed. DC suffers heavily against shields and isn't soo strong against health either but it is very devastating to Armour and even more so to Barriers. So in light of this, you'll want to strip enemies of their shields before using the power and perhaps land a few shots with your weapon to just speed up the killing of unprotected troops. Unlike other Biotic powers, DC can only act as a primer, that is to say you can detonate it with another Biotic power for a Biotic Explosion but you can't use it to detonate another power for a combo.

Geth Juggernaut - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Geth Juggernaut

The penultimate new kit from the Reckoning DLC is the Geth Juggernaut and he might just be the most unique character ever to be introduced to the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. If you've played online at all since said DLC went live, I'm willing to bet that you've already seen quite a few Geth Juggernauts in action and will know what makes him soo "special". On the off chance you're one of the very few people who don't yet know, the GJ is the only character in the game that can not be sync-killed! This means he won't be picked up by Banshees/Atlases, stabbed by Phantoms, eaten by Praetorians or slammed by Brutes/Scions. Funnily enough the title "Juggernaut" is actually a pretty accurate description of the character itself, he's nearly twice as tall as any of the human kits and moves as slow as an elderly Krogan, the only discrepancy is the fact that depending on how you spec him, he's not really that tanky. Speaking of Krogans, the GJ moves even slower than the Krogan Warlord and also can't vault or use cover. The Geth Juggernaut brings two new powers to the game: Hex Shield and Siege Pulse, with the existing Geth Turret making up the third. Unfortunately like last weeks character, the Talon Mercenary, the Geth Juggernaut is one of those kits that the majority of players (that I've witnessed), don't quite seem to know how to effectively utilise his skill sets. Readers of previous reviews will know my views on slow moving characters but it might surprise you to hear that despite the fact the GJ moves at a snails pace, I managed to have a bit of fun while testing him out.

I'll get around to explaining in more detail later on but as always, I'll begin by covering the powers. First off is the Hex Shield, as the name suggests it's a deployable shield that takes the shape of a hexagon (i.e. it's six sided), I believe it's based on the ones that were in ME1 campaign. By default it's pretty durable (at 2000 health points) and will soak up a fair amount of damage before it break, it's as tall as the Geth Juggernaut and is just wide enough to block any shots fired directly at him. The Hex Shield should block all incoming enemy ordinance, whether it's small arms fire from foot soldiers or power attacks from bosses, I think it also stops grenades but those tend to bounce around after landing, so there's always the chance it can still hit you. Currently I've specced my Hex Shield with: Pulse, Duration and Damage Synergy. I think picking Shield Strength is unnecessary because the cooldown time is pretty fast, so if I need another it's not that big a deal to plonk a new one down. While the Pulse evolution might not be really damaging (400 at base value), it does have it's uses, for example if you start to get swarmed you can back up and place the shield, the electric pulse that is then generated can stun several enemies and buy you that extra second or so to recover. On smaller maps and in particular at choke points, you could spam the Hex Shield to take advantage of the electric pulse, if you've got a low enough cooldown time it's actually pretty good for keeping small crowds of enemies pinned down.

Talon Mercenary - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Talon Mercenary

And so we reach the half way mark, three Reckoning DLC character kits reviewed and three more to go, well technically two after today but you know what I mean lol This weeks article is on the Talon Mercenary, classified as an Engineer, he brings to the fight three brand new powers in the form of Cain Trip Mines, Armour Piercing Arrows and Concussive Arrows. In another first for ME3 MP, every single one of his powers are based on grenade count, so each time you use a power it will consume a grenade (and of course you can only carry a limited number). If you read last weeks character review of the Krogan Warlord, you'll know that he's a melee centric character and that most of your damage output will come from charging his hammer with powers then releasing them via heavy melee. Well if you enjoyed that style of play, I think you're gonna like the Talon Mercenary but unfortunately if you didn't like it that much, this guy might not be your cup of tea either. But having said that, unlike the KW, the TM wasn't designed with purely CQC engagements in mind, I think his powers are just as powerful at point blank range as they are from across the map (though considerably less reliable). Due to the stupid button mapping (and lack of custom options), I'm generally not a big fan of any attacks or character kits that require me to release control of the right stick and dash button more often than not, so at first glance I already have my reservations about the TC. But I've been pleasantly surprised with one or two character reviews in the past, so the question is, does the Talon Mercenary join these select few or does he get dumped on my ever growing pile of "meh" kits?

As always we begin with a brief analysis of the powers. The Cain Trip Mines are exactly what it says on the label, they're placeable mines that detonate once an enemy has interrupted the trip laser and they seriously cane anything that gets caught in the blast radius :P If I'm not mistaken they are the most damaging of any of the explosive based powers currently available in MP, by default each mine has a generous impact radius of 5 meters and does a whopping 1200 points to health, 1800 points to Shields/Barriers and 2700 to Armour! Both the damage and radius of the mines can be increased fairly significantly and if you then factor in the potential for additional damage bonuses via the kits passives, you're looking at some crazy killing potential. You can plant up to three mines at any one time and they'll stay active until an enemy triggers it to go off or you place a fourth mine, which will then cause the first planted mine to explode on it's own. The mines are particularly useful for locking down choke points on a map, doorways and narrow corridors in particular make for excellent mine fields and if you place all three of the mines a couple metres apart, theoretically nothing but a top tier boss should make it through alive (though heavily weakened).

Krogan Warlord - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Krogan Warlord

In this third character review of the new Reckoning DLC kits, I'll be discussing the Krogan Warlord, classified as a Sentinel, he brings to the fight the standard Tech Armour and a great big *censor beep* hammer! If you read my previous character reviews of the Cabal Vanguard and Alliance Infiltration Unit (AIU), you'll know that both kits were very mobile and agile, able to traverse maps stealthily and quickly strike at unsuspecting foes. The Krogan Warlord's playstyle on the other hand is about as different as you could get, he's big, lumbering and is about as subtle as a, well, as a sledgehammer [ :P ] Regular readers will again also recall that I'm not a huge fan of slow moving characters because they just don't suit my preferred style of play, that is to say, speed and aggression. To make matters worse he can't take cover or jump over it, combine this with the fact he's about a good half metre taller than any of the current Krogan characters and you can probably guess my thoughts about him already. But obviously I still put the guy through his paces, else this review would be as short as his temper and not particularly detailed lol. The question is, was he good enough to become one of my regular kits or would he simply make me rage?

So let's get started, first up as per usual, a breakdown of the powers. Well the Tech Armour is nothing special, it's the same as any TA for any of the other Sentinels, once activated it stays on until you decide other wise. While it's active you get a damage reduction from all incoming enemy fire but at the cost of your power's recharging at a slower rate, by default these figures are -35% and +50%, respectively. For the most part I never detonate TA once I activate it, even though it has a pretty wide blast radius and can do a decent bit of damage if you choose to invest extra points into it. A little known fact about detonating TA, is that the force generated by the explosion is usually enough to stagger a Phantom, which can be a life saver if you get caught by surprise. Having said this, if you're reckless enough to get close to an enemy unit that can sync kill, you're either prepared to deal with the threat or have a death wish. Until the Krogan Warlord, I've not really had a reason to invest any further than into the first three ranks of TA but I found that the bonus power damage at rank 5 is very complimentary to the kits offensive powers.

Alliance Infiltration Unit (AIU) - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

AIU

This weeks character review will be on the Alliance Infiltration Unit or more commonly referred to as the AIU, hailing from the Infiltrator class (obviously lol), this kit takes the bodily form of a female robot (which you might recognise if you played the SP). First impressions of the AIU is that she's a pretty mobile character by having access to a slick forward and backward flip that can quickly take you away from danger, on top of this she's also got a couple fast and vicious melee moves to keep the enemies at arms length. Now in stark contrast to last weeks character, the Cabal Vanguard and in fact every other new Reckoning DLC kit, she only has one new power.  As with all Infiltrators she gets the standard Tactical Cloak and to go with that she has Snap Freeze, then of course the new addition to multiplayer, Repair Matrix. If you've browsed the ME3 MP section of the BioWare Social Network at all in the last couple weeks, you'll know how much of a crap storm this new power has stirred up amongst the "OMG soo OP, Nerf, Nerf, Nerf, Now!!!" crew *smh*. I'll discuss more about this when I go through the powers in detail, a little further down this article.

Readers of previous character reviews will know that I do like my Infiltrators and that I think they are the most versatile class in ME3. There's already a great variety of character kits within the class but everytime BioWare announce they're releasing a new one, I pay that bit more attention to what they're saying. I first saw the AIU in action during the live stream that BioWare hosted before the new DLC went live and at the time I didn't really understand what Repair Matrix was (despite playing SP) and so the only thing I really took from the demonstration was that she had Snap Freeze. There's only soo much you can glean about a character kit until you actually play with it but the impression I got was; damage bonus from TC and Snap Freeze de-buff implies a CQC playstyle, almost certainly with a Shotgun. Well, I've since spent a lot of time playing with the AIU but the question is, does she follow in the footsteps of her peers or will she be left out in the cold? [Cus you know, Snap Freeze... oh forget it XD]

Cabal Vanguard - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Cabal Vanguard

As you might've heard by now, the last multiplayer offering for Mass Effect 3 has been released in the form of Reckoning DLC and with it came six brand new character kits (one for each class). Originally I had planned to have this first review out earlier this week but because of the special week long Operation: Lodestar, that BioWare sprung on us a few days ago, I've been too busy playing XD Anyway, I've since completed all the challenge requirements and earned all three of my Commendation packs, so now it's time to get back to work and deliver what I promised. Don't worry I won't be reviewing all the kits in this single article, firstly because that would result in a stupidly long read and secondly I still haven't fully tested out all the new characters. At first I was planning on reviewing all the kits in the order that I unlocked them but for one reason or another I inadvertently spent more time using certain kits over the position that I acquired them. However the first character I'll be reviewing was in fact the first new kit that I unlocked, I acquired the Cabal Vanguard in the Gift Pack that was distributed to all players when the new DLC went live. After the Cabal I'll continue to work backwards down the list of classes, so the next review will be of the new Infiltrator kit, then the Sentinel etc.

Righto, so now you're up to speed with my timetable, let's get started. The Cabal Vanguard is the first (and last) Female Turian in ME3 multiplayer and not only is she the first of her kind in MP but she's also the first Vanguard in her class to not have the traditional Biotic Charge as part of her power set [*gasp* lol]. In it's place she has instead Poison Strike, which is then accompanied by Nightshade Blades and Biotic Focus. When I first saw the Cabal Vanguard in action, during the live streaming that Bioware hosted before the Reckoning DLC was launched, my interest was peaked because she's very mobile and has one of my favourite in game abilities, teleportation. Readers of previous character reviews will know that I prefer to play aggressively, hitting enemies fast and hard, which usually means using characters that can get around the map quickly and who are lethal in CQC. The N7 Fury and N7 Slayer can both use teleportation to pass through walls and attack unsuspecting foes before making a speedy exit via the same path, to avoid any potential retaliation. The first thing I noticed when using the CV is that while she can traverse the map, I believe slightly faster than the Fury and Slayer, she's lacking when it comes to killing enemies quickly.

Mass Effect 3 Special Week-Long Operation: Lodestar (5th-10th March 2013) [Updated]

 

As you might be aware Mass Effect 3 will become one year old in a short while and to celebrate BioWare have decided to give the fans a special event. In the first extended operation of it's kind (five days long), there are tiered challenges and the opportunity to unlock three Commendation packs. This means that you could earn three promotional weapons by successfully completing all the individual goals! Unfortunately the wording of the operation hints, to me at least, that these operations may soon be drawing to a close and that active involvement by the developers on multiplayer will now cease entirely. You can read the full details below:

Operation: LODESTAR (Mar 5^th-10^th)

We are coordinating the largest-scale attack in the brief history of this war. N7 unit actions will pave the way for resistance and conventional forces trying to retake the population centers of our homeworlds. There is no retreat. When an objective is finished or a target destroyed, you will immediately focus on the next. Our assets will provide cover to network ships that will update your targets in real-time. Rally points are at your disposal in the event that all space assets meet with catastrophic casualties. From there, you will fight as your CO sees fit or until further orders arrive.

Mass Effect 3 Weekend Operation: Impact (1st-3rd March 2013)

The ME3 Weekend Operation for this week is now live:

Sony Meet 2013 Reveals Initial PlayStation 4 (PS4) Details

In an exclusive invite only event, hosted in New York City last week, Sony finally revealed some details about the eagerly awaited PS4. I wasn't one of the lucky few to be at the two hour meet but like many millions around the world I watched most of it via the live stream. Just in case you missed it and want to watch the full show, it was uploaded to YouTube by Sony and you can catch it here. The first 45 minutes or so, outlines details about the console and it's potential, with the rest of the show displaying various gameplay from titles that will go on sale at the time of the PS4's launch. Unfortunately we weren't shown the console itself or any pictures of it but they did divulge some system specifications and the new 'DualShock 4' controller, which was already leaked earlier in the week. So apart from some (very basic) information regarding the internal features, there wasn't actually much news about the new console itself. What we did get however, was quite a few speakers discussing the direction and inspiration behind the units potential capabilities and future goals, though they neglected to actually provide any demonstrations about these, so for the most part we're all still in the dark. 

Mass Effect 3 Weekend Operation: Tribute (22nd-24th Feb 2013)

This weeks weekend operation details has been released:

Event Description: A surprise Reaper assault inflicted deeply-felt casualties on our N7 teams and interrupted supply lines to several worlds. Many units will have to rely on standard-issue sidearms and munitions. We must honor and avenge our comrades who fell – and let the Reapers know this was a mistake, not a victory.

Individual Goal - Two objectives are required:

When To Move Up The Difficulty Ladder On ME3 Multiplayer And What To Expect When You Do

In this final follow up article to my A Beginners Guide To ME3 MP, I'll be talking about the transition to a higher difficulty and in particular what you should expect to face when you do so. (If you missed last weeks articles on my personal tips for buying packs from the multiplayer store you can find it here.) First off everyone is different and will have their own pace of learning, so there is no definitive answer to the question "when?" but if you start to find the difficulty you're currently playing on is an absolute cake walk, that might be an indication that you're ready to move it up a notch. Of course there is no obligation for you to change the difficulty but if you're claiming top score every single match by a huge margin and can quite easily carry a sub-par team, then your time will probably be better rewarded playing the next difficulty up. I can't speak for anyone else but I personally like to be challenged, yes the rewards are greater if you play on a higher difficulty but for me Co-Op matches (in any game) that are too easy, generally become repetitive and then that's just boring. That's not to say that I enjoy taking a beating from the AI with no chance of walking away with a win but having a tough fight on your hands and eventually prevailing after getting battered, often makes matches more entertaining and you get that feeling of satisfaction from doing so (especially if you were lucky enough to be in the game with good team players). So if you think you're ready for a new challenge, there's little harm in testing the water and who knows, you might just end up enjoying the game that bit more. It goes without saying that if you move up the ladder and then realise that it's too difficult or you're just not having as much fun because of the changes that occur with a higher difficulty, then by all means you can just move back down again. I understand that some people play just for fun and so if smashing AI enemies into the next galaxy floats your boat, regardless of XP, Credits and unlocks, then go for it.

Useful Tips and Advice On Buying Packs From The ME3 MP Store (To Get The Most Out Of Your Credits)

Welcome to the second of my follow up articles to A Beginners Guide To ME3 MP, (BTW you can catch last weeks article on tips for completing objectives quickly here) today I'll be discussing the packs that you can buy from the multiplayer store and more specifically what packs are a better purchase option depending on the situation you're in. OK, so you've played a handful of games and now you're ready to start spending your hard earned credits but what packs to buy? Well if you're a beginner or still fairly new to game, the one you should be really concentrating on is the Recruit pack, these are the cheapest and as the in game description says, is a great way to start adding basic things to your inventory. You'll only get a bunch of Common items but with each pack priced at 5,000 Credits, you'll be able to purchase three of these after just a single Bronze game, which can result in a lot of new stuff being unlocked. It might be really tempting to save up the Credits from multiple games and then take a chance on one of the more expensive packs, in the hopes of getting a decent Rare/Ultra-Rare weapon or character kit but I really don't think that's a good idea at all. Everyone thinks about it as a beginner and I'll be honest I actually did it once or twice myself but I'm telling you now, I never got anything worth while and I always ended up regretting my decision to not buy a load of cheaper packs instead. There was already a large pool of items when I was a beginner but the amount of stuff there is to unlock these days is even greater, not to mention the fact that items will repeat until they're maxed, means the chances of you getting something that you really want is absolutely tiny. Take my advice and start out by purchasing Recruit packs until you max out all of your Common items but if you insist on purchasing otherwise, a Veteran pack every now and then is as far as I would go, remember to visit your N7 HQ to easily check out all your unlocks and their levelling progress.

Essential Tips On How To Quickly Complete Objectives In Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer

In this first follow up article to my Beginners Guide to ME3 Multiplayer, I will be talking about the topic of completing objective waves and in particular, tips 'n' tricks that might help you speed up the process. As I mentioned in the guide, any enemies killed before you and/or the team have completed the set task/s will always re-spawn, so my first piece of advice is to concentrate on getting the objective nailed ASAP. Obviously you may need to deal with the odd troop that is blocking your path or a boss that is uncomfortably close to the objective location but where possible, the best thing to do is avoid getting into unnecessary skirmishes. Don't forget that you're going against the clock, so every second spent engaging enemy units is one less spent that you could be working on getting the objectives completed, not to mention you can earn more bonus Credits for faster completion times. In practically all cases it's better if the team stick fairly close to each other and traverse the map as a unit, so any players that get downed can be rescued quickly (thus saving precious time) but more importantly because you will then have all the available fire power of the squad, concentrated on any enemies that might be a posing a threat. There are currently five different tasks that you can be assigned during the objective waves and they are as follows:

1) Hacking - This objective requires the activation of a laptop and then for you and the team to remain within the upload circle, until the data bar reaches 100%.

A Beginners Guide To Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer [Part 2/2]

This is part two of my 'Beginners Guide To Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer', if you aren't coming here from part one, you can read that article by clicking on this link. Now as a quick reminder for readers of the first part, I'll list the contents of what I've already covered and what I will be talking about in today's article: 

---------------------------------- [ In Part 1 ] ----------------------------------

+ Learn To Walk Before Attempting To Run
+ What Is Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer?
+ Credits, Multiplayer Store, XP and N7 Rank
+ Challenges
+ Character Kits
+ Investing Skill Points Into Powers
+ Weapons and Mods
+ Equipment and Consumables

---------------------------------- [ In Part 2 ] ----------------------------------
 
+ Don't Treat MP Like SP, They Are Different Beasts
+ Wave Budgets (Enemy Re-Spawn Logic)
+ Time To Complete Matches and Potential Credits Earned
+ Multiplayer Etiquette
+ Bugs, Glitches and EA Servers
+ Weekly Balance Changes [Read: Weekly Nerfs]
+ Useful Online Resources For Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
+ Links To Follow Up Articles 

A Beginners Guide To Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer [Part 1/2]

- Introduction

I've been playing Mass Effect 3 multiplayer for a little over half a year now and as with any game where there is an MP that I enjoy playing, I've spent many an hour on the title. Until ME3 I wasn't really aware of what the Mass Effect franchise was about nor did I have any reason to learn more about it, that however all changed when a friend of mine (who I played a crap ton of Uncharted 3 Co-Op with), recommended the game to me. I started off by downloading the demo and if I'm being honest, my first impressions were more or less "meh, can't see what all the fuss is about" but I decided to stick at it and play around with the various classes, while also testing out the different powers. It took a pretty long time for me to get to grips with the demo and when I eventually bought the retail version, I realised that this was merely the tip of the iceberg, despite this I decided to forgo the single player and dive straight into MP (in hindsight, even I think this was a crazy move!). 

Being an absolute noob to the whole ME franchise there was soo much that I had to wrap my head around, never before did I have to build entire character kits via skills points as well as selecting and modding weapons. These weapons would then create an additional "cooldown" time for my powers and could be further enhanced via equipment. Don't even get me started on all the classes, I mean what the heck is an "Adept"? "Vanguards" can do what now? The powers themselves had alternative evolutions and each one had odd names (what is "Reave"?!) and provided equally bizarre benefits ("Weaken Armour"?!), I mean my mind was literally reeling from the data overload (speaking of which, "Effective against barriers"?!).

Batarian Slasher (vs. Drell Adept) - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Batarian Slasher

Time's a funny old thing isn't? It doesn't feel like months have past since Bioware launched the Retaliation DLC for Mass Effect 3 multiplayer and now I'm about to write up my final character review! I just realised that my first character review was for a Biotic kit in the form of the Asari Valkyrie and now I'm going to be ending on another Biotic kit, feels a bit like I've gone full circle (well I thought that was interesting lol). Anyway enough reminiscing about the past (speaking of which, here you can find my previous character review of the Volus Protector) and let's get started, well the final new character kit is the Batarian Slasher, classified as an Adept and brings to the fight; Lash, Warp and Cluster Grenades. I should point out at this stage that up until this character I wasn't the biggest fan of Batarian characters, not because I think their signature powers are rubbish (though they aren't amazing) but rather because like Krogans and the original Turians, they suffer from a serious lack of mobility. Being a player who likes to attack with speed and aggression, this trait is something that I struggle to deal with and thus I rarely pick up any of them, bar the Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard who I'll turn to when I'm in need of a tanky character. So what was soo good about this Batarian that can make me live with the fact that he can't roll or dodge an incoming enemy attack?

As always we begin with the powers, now for those of you who have read my previous character reviews you'll know that i don't really like Warp, at least not when I'm planning on doing Biotic Explosions all game long. So it may surprise you to hear that with the game plan I devised (more on this later on), it actually wasn't soo bad to use, just in case you don't know my views on Warp you can read more in my review of the Asari Huntress. A quick re-cap is that it can prime and detonate power combinations, it has a moderate cool down time that isn't particularly suited to setting of a chain of Biotic Explosions in quick succession and it has a lengthy travel time that means it is quite often easily dodged by the enemy (assuming lag doesn't make it miss first). Warp does a nice chunk of damage to an enemy upon making contact but the thing that makes the power better is that it can be specced to weaken enemy units, exposing them to take more damage from your weapon fire or another power. If I'm planning on putting the maximum amount of points into Warp, I always go this route because on the higher difficulties, being able to soften enemies up that little bit more is always nice.